Entertainment

Ashley Jensen would love to make Ugly Betty film

The actress would love to be reunited with her former colleagues for a big screen revival.
The actress would love to be reunited with her former colleagues for a big screen revival.

Ashley Jensen has said she believes there is scope for an Ugly Betty film to be made, seven years after the show ended.

The Scottish actress starred in the hit US comedy-drama series as Christina McKinney, a seamstress who works at fashion magazine Mode alongside leading character Betty Suarez, played by America Ferrera.

The programme aired from 2006 and gained a dedicated global fan base, which was shocked and saddened when it was cancelled in 2010.

Jensen told ITV’s This Morning, on the prospect of a big-screen revival: “It seems not to be happening at the moment, I don’t know.

“I would love to do it – we all would. Last year we had an Ugly Betty reunion and we all just got a bit excited about seeing each other again.

“It was one of those programmes that really touched a lot of people and I think that a lot of people really feel a great deal of warmth from it, so I think there could be scope for an Ugly Betty movie, definitely.”

The programme centred on Betty, who is perceived by others to be unattractive with an unconventional style but goes on to score a job at the programme’s prestigious fictional magazine.

The series won several major awards, including two Emmys and three Golden Globes.

Jensen, who stars in Kay Mellor’s new BBC series Love, Lies & Records, said she misses some things about living in Los Angeles, but mostly she is glad to be back in the UK.

The 48-year-old TV star said: “I miss the light of America, and the space of America, and to be honest there is quite a lot of positivity over there, which is wonderful to be around – and the fact they pack your shopping at the supermarket is a real plus!

“But you don’t want to be old in LA. I remember I said once before, my mum said, ‘where do old people buy their cardigans in LA?’

“I just felt, in a lot of ways, it was a little bit transient, and a bit like… nobody was entirely happy with the here and now. It was always like, ‘when I get the next job, when I get the next pilot,’ and I kind of felt it was a vulnerable state to be living in.

“Because even when you get a pilot you can see be re-cast, or you can do four episodes and the producers come on and say they are pulling the show… so I don’t know, there seems to be a degree of more loyalty over here.”